sIsTeR mARgAReT sCOTT, A.C.J

�hat happiness �or usto be a Little Sister of the Poor! �ollowing �aint �eanne �ugan in the joy of hospitality to the aged poor.

Sr. Constance Carolyn Little Sisters of the Poor 601 Maiden Choice Lane Baltimore, MD 21228 Tel: 410.744.9367 serenity@littlesistersofthepoor.org www.littlesistersofthepoor.org

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ing human. God made us to adore; we were all born to be “wow” people. We all have an innate capacity for awe. Every man and woman, every child and elderly person; people of every race, nation, color, orientation, and social class: Each one has been given the gift of wonder by the God who is always greater and more amazing. So adoration is about who we are as human beings. It is something deeply rooted in our humanity. It is what a mother feels as she cradles her newborn baby in her arms for the very fi rst time. It is the trembling we experience when we are caught up in the overwhelming power of a storm. It is the wonder that widens the eyes and heart of

a child captivated by the magic contained in the adventure of life. It is the spontaneous applause or the emotion in moist eyes before the beauty of a symphony or a tiny fl ower. It is the admiration we feel in the face of an act of heroism.

Eucharistic adoration is a dynamic encounter, a thrilling embrace, a challenging conversation, and an exciting engagement.

The wonder of it all

Second, our sense of wonder as human beings is a spiritual adventure as well. It is the dynamic quality of our relationship with God, deeply engraved in our hearts, where our littleness and fragility become de-

SISter MarGaret signs copies of her book, The Eucharist and Social Justice.

pendent on God’s transcendence. It is when fear becomes reverence, astonishment becomes the gaze of contemplation open to the divine mystery, and applause dies away to be lost in worship and praise. That is when wonder becomes adoration.

When I became a sister I wanted Jesus Christ to be the center of my life, so adoration became eucharistic adoration. Now, it was all about Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. I experienced the thrilling conviction that Jesus was present sacramentally in the consecrated host. I knew in loving amazement that Jesus was really there. And so eucharistic adoration, which may seem to some like “wasting time” in church, is really about recognizing Jesus in the bread and feeling like dancing. It is a tender embrace that opens wide to encircle the whole world. It is having your heart set on fire.

For me eucharistic adoration

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Enter #189 at VocationMatch.com is about identifying with the Son, who adores the Father and loves us. It seemed to me that, like Jesus, adoration is about giving new and abundant life to all around us. It is a passionate need to care deeply about others, about people, about the world we live in, and about the whole of creation. It is wanting to make a difference—ready to be fully committed, as bread that is broken in God’s hands for everyone, for always, in the Eucharist.

The power to act

Gradually I came to connect adoration and my ministry. Adoration is ministry because to adore Jesus in the Eucharist also means being involved in his cause, following his style of life, and walking in the path of his destiny. It is to meditate on the words “this is my body which will be given up for you” and rejoice in his redeeming action made present in each Eucharist.

It is to nourish in oneself the desire for self-giving. It is to learn to commit one’s self and to give one’s life for our brothers and sisters. It is learning to love with no limits. It is praying for all those we hear about and get to know through television and news headlines and for all those whose suffering is ignored or denied.

To adore Jesus in the Eucharist is also to become completely immersed in the power of forgiveness. Many years ago now I was making adoration late one night, on the eve of a new chapter in my life. As I sat there quietly with Jesus in the Eucharist, thinking about all that had been and looking forward to what was to come, the face of the one person who had made life a little difficult for me came into my prayer. Somehow it seemed that the power of forgiveness was flowing gently out from the Eucharist into my mind and my heart, caressing her and lovingly freeing me from resentment. I heard Jesus repeating his prayer in my heart: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And I made his prayer mine: Father, forgive us—all of us who suffer and make others suffer, sometimes without knowing it, sometimes without wishing to.

To adore Jesus in the Eucharist is also to enter into the reality of bread, which “earth has given and human hands have made”—the hands of people of our time and in our country and all over the world. It is a space where we can allow ourselves to be touched by a greater spirit of solidarity, to become one with all people, as Jesus did.

When I adore Jesus in the Eucharist, I make room next to me for all the poor people who befriended me in so many parts of the world: Juan, the undernourished Chilean child with cancer of the throat; Cesar, gaunt and dying of AIDS in a shantytown hovel in Santiago; Eufrasie, who, with her family, escaped the genocide on the Congolese border of Rwanda—so many, all with names and faces. I leave adoration energized to talk about them, write about them, and work on their behalf.

Less is more

To adore Jesus in the Eucharist is also a lesson in littleness. To contemplate Jesus is to look upon one who was rich but made himself poor; the allpowerful one who made himself weak;

the great God who became a child, a man, a piece of bread. It is to contemplate the one who fills the universe but who emptied himself. It is to look with pure eyes and a clean heart that sees God in poor and vulnerable ones. It is to discover the beauty that is hidden in humility. One leaves eucharistic adoration and takes farewell of Jesus, perhaps a little smaller in one’s own eyes.

The body of Christ

For me eucharistic adoration is so many things, but above all it is an appointment, a date, time spent “hanging out” with Jesus Christ and with all that he was and all that he is—just being with him, present in the host. It is time, too, spent with the whole of humanity, with all that is and all that can

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Victory Noll Sisters

Proclaiming the Gospel as Jesus did, in a personal, non-institutional way Share Our Spirit

Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters

1900 W. Park Drive • P.O. Box 109 • Huntington, IN 46750 (260) 356-0628 • voc@olvm.org • www.olvm.org

Enter #201 at VocationMatch.com be—an appointment that places us at the heart of reality and at the center of history. I experienced this presence of Christ in a very moving way while I was living and working in Cerro Navia, a poor area in Santiago, Chile. One afternoon as I was about to go to the chapel for my hour of eucharistic adoration, an elderly “grandfather” came to the door to ask if someone could take his blood pressure. He came in and I took it. Then we chatted over a cup of tea, Chilean style, and eventually he toddled happily away. I made it to adoration, a little late, but as I knelt on the fl oor, gazing at Christ in the host, he seemed

to say to me: “Margaret, that was me!” Never before had the gospel words seemed so powerfully real: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these . . . you did it to me.” But that is not the end of the story. The following Sunday at Mass, as I was distributing Holy Communion, “Grandpa” approached me and as I looked at him and said, “The body of Christ,” his face broke into a smile—and he winked! Hidden beneath the surface of eucharistic adoration is a whole new world. Eucharistic adoration cannot be separated from who we are as human beings, created by God and followers of Jesus Christ. It is ours to discover and explore. 

Adoration is ministry because to adore Jesus in the Eucharist also means being involved in his cause.

What is eucharistic adoration?

DurING ExpOSItION of the Eucharist, the consecrated host is placed either in a ciborium (a covered metal cup holding hosts) or a monstrance (a standing metal vessel that holds a host in a round window). the Catholic Church teaches that eucharistic adoration: • Leads people to acknowledge Christ’s presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist and invites them into deeper spiritual union with Christ. • Helps people to respond with gratitude to the gift of

Christ. • In friendship with Christ allows people to pour out their hearts before him for themselves and for those dear to them and to pray for the peace and salvation of the world. • Is a way for people to offer their entire lives with

Christ to the Father in the

Holy Spirit. • renews the relationship people have with God that inspires them to live what they have received through faith and the sacrament. Adoration of the real presence of Christ is always secondary to reception of the Eucharist, but it can assist people in celebrating the Eucharist with deeper devotion.

—Joel Schorn, Managing Editor, VISION contact: Marie Schmids, MMS . marie.schmids@yahoo.com 8400 Pine Road, Philadelphia, PA 19111 . 215-742-6100 Enter #042 at VocationMatch.com10 Xaverian Vision Ad:Layout 1 1/29/10 5:21 PM

Have more questions about prayer and religious life?

Check out these online resources at vocation-network.org:

• Sixteen queStionS about church vocationS: Offers honest answers to your questions about priests, sisters, brothers, vows, sexuality, community life, and more. (Found under “Guide” then “Articles,” then “Prayer and Discernment.”)

• SiSter Julie vieira anSwerS your vocation queStionS (Link on homepage.)

• aSk alice camille about catholiciSm (Link on homepage.)

• the religiouS life timeline is a brief, illustrated, and downloadable look at religious life through the centuries. (Found under “Listings” and then “Resources.”)

The Congregation of the Brothers of Saint Francis Xavier

A community in mission, inviting other men to consider joining them to “fall in love with the service of God. ” Educators Social Workers Counselors Missionaries Men of Faith

For more information, please contract: Brother James Connolly, CFX Xaverian Brothers 4409 Frederick Avenue Baltimore, MD 21229

On the web at: www.XaverianBrothers.org or email: jconnolly@xaverianbrothers.org

Get ready to run the race 

DOmINIcaN  Father andrew carl Wisdom began his half-marathon full of zeal.

Discernment requires the perseverance and strength of a marathon, and it is ultimately about one thing: your heart’s desire resting in God’s.

by Father andrew Carl wisdom, o.P.

IdoN’T kNow about you, but I’ve never been much of an athlete. I mean, in college I got a C-minus in tennis. who gets a C-minus in college tennis? That is supposed to be one of those freebie courses, a giveaway, right?

Father Andrew Carl Wisdom, O.P. is promoter of vocations for the Dominicans, Province of St. Albert the Great, and director of the Society for Vocational Support. He has published several books and articles on preaching, vocations, and spirituality. This last year, however, I did something I didn’t know I could do. I ran a 13-mile marathon, my first-ever competitive race. Now believe me, along the way I did wonder what the heck I had gotten myself into, especially as I neared mile 11 and felt as if I were going to keel over and see my Creator and Redeemer before my time. But I not only persevered to make it over that finish line, I did it in 1 hour, 48 minutes, and 52 seconds, about an 8.19 minute mile. Not bad for an old guy, huh? I ran with two younger religious